Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

SUCCESS IN ATHLETlCS in quite a short time ? Yet here in England, where our athletes have been jumping for centuries, we con– sider it first class if a man does 5 ft. 9 in., 5 ft. 10 in., or 6 feet, and our best can only get a little over the latter height. It is because in America (where incidentally Hjertberg studied) they have reduced jumping to a fine art, and know all about the anatomical side of the game at any rate, even if they don't know all about the mathematical eguation. Now, there is a right and a wrong way of jumping, as we shall endeavour to show; and there is no reason why English athletes should not do things in the right way just as well as those of any other nation. For the training for this event it is hard to propound any definite scheme, as the system will vary greatly with the build and temperament of the jumper-who, by the way, is nearly always a highly strung, nervous individual, needing the most carefql handling. Many jumpers-good men too-are under the impression that no particular training, other than a few jumps, is required for the event; especially do they think that no training is necessary to give them powers of endurance. In these surmises they are, of course, entirely wrong. In the first place, the limbs and body muscles must be built up to a pitch of high perfection, if the jumper is to give of his best in competition; and secondly, stamina is necessary to the athlete who jumps a number of times at ever-tising heights. Frequently it is the case that two men are left in at the end of a long and exhausting competition ; again and again they jump, striving to compass that extra half-inch that will mean success to one of them; and it is then that the man who has trained scientific– ally to build up muscle and stamina alike will be